BOZEMAN, Montana — The Brent Vigen era is off to a strong start at Montana State.
With a trio of road challenges upcoming, the Bobcats will hope to keep rolling on Saturday with the first Big Sky Conference home game of Vigen’s first season against a Northern Colorado team that has been a surprise with two victories already this season.
UNC won 28 games in 10 seasons under Earnest Collins Jr., including just two games each in 2018 and 2019. The Bears won just nine games in five seasons under Scott Downing before Collins returned to his alma mater.
UNC did not play in the fall of 2020 or the spring of 2021, yet added a few headline making editions, highlighted by the hiring of former NFL standout wide receiver Ed McCaffrey as its new head coach.
McCaffrey, who caught 565 passes and scored 55 touchdowns during his 13-year NFL career with stops for the New York Giants, the San Francisco 49ers and the Denver Broncos, brought with him plenty of headlines.
Then he brought with him two of his four exceptionally talented sons. Ed is the father of Max McCaffrey, a former all-conference wide receiver at Duke before having a cup of coffee in the NFL. Max is now Northern Colorado’s offensive coordinator.
Ed is the father of Christian McCaffrey, the No. 1 pick in almost all of your fantasy drafts this fall. Even though he’s out of the Carolina Panthers’ lineup now, the All-Pro running back is in the NFL, not in Greeley, Colorado.
Ed is the father of Dylan McCaffrey, a former Top 100 prospect and one of the top quarterback recruits in the country, transferred from Michigan to UNC during the most recent elongated off-season.
And Ed is the father of Luke McCaffrey, a former Nebraska quarterback who transferred to Rice in the off-season after contemplating joining the family reunion 90 minutes north of Valor Christian High in Highlands Ranch where all four McCaffrey brothers prepped.
Ed started coaching when he first retired from the NFL back in 2003 when he started to coaching his boys in Little League. He just kept on coaching, eventually leading Valor Christian to a 24-2 record and a Colorado 5A state title. That led to him taking the UNC job following Collins’ dismissal.
That’s a lot of material for scribes to write about for a program that hasn’t had much to report on since joining the Big Sky Conference in 2006.
Northern Colorado captured the 1996 and 1997 Division II national titles under the guidance of Joe Glenn, who went on to lead Montana to the 2001 national championship a few years later.
Since moving into the Big Sky, UNC has won 37 games since moving into the BSC, including just 24 conference games in conference play over the last 15 seasons.
Yet Northern Colorado comes to Bozeman Saturday to take on No. 11 Montana State with a 1-0 record in league play. The Bears outlasted a Northern Arizona team coming off a Pac 12 win by winning 17-10 in overtime in Greeley last Saturday.
“They found a way to win against a team that had just come off beating an FBS team (Arizona) and that was a big win for them,” Vigen said. “They are a program where they hired a coach (McCaffrey) last season and they didn’t get to play a game. So they are really, I’m certain, still creating their identity. I don’t know if that was a signature win but getting a Big Sky win like that is certainly one that creates momentum.
“They have several transfers from a lot of different programs so they are lot different than they would’ve been in 2019. To even thing anything even resembles what they were in ’19 would be a real mistake.
“We can line up their scores, their stats but they are coming off a big win. So we have to be ready to take their best shot.”
Montana State comes into Saturday’s Big Sky home opener on a three-game winning streak thanks in large part to Isaiah Ifanse’s punishing running and a fast, aggressive defense that has put to rest the notion that with Jeff Choate’s departure, so would depart MSU’s edge.
With road games up coming at Weber State (October 15), two weeks later at Eastern Washington (November 6) and November 20 at Montana in Missoula, MSU must take care of business in games like Saturday’s if their playoff and championship hopes are real.
QUICK HITS
Location: Greeley, Colorado
Nickname: Bears.
Founded: 1889. Established as the State Normal School of Colorado, UNC has a long history of teacher education and is recognized as an earlier innovator in the field. In addition to education awards and rankings, UNC claims nationally ranked programs in business, performing and visual arts, nursing, and sports and exercise science.
Enrollment: The university has 12,084 and an endowment of $89.8 million.
Stadium: Nottingham Field. The 8,533-seat venue was build in 1994 for $4 million. The Bears won back-to-back Division II national titles under former Montana head coach Joe Glenn in 1996 and 1997 and averaged more than 4,500 fans per game in the then-6,500-seat venue. Attendance peaked in 1999 with an average of 6,650 and then again in 2005 with 7,510 per game. UNC hasn’t averaged 5,000 fans a game since 2010.
THE TEAM (1-0 in Big Sky, 2-2 overall)
The Coach: Ed McCaffrey, first season at Northern Colorado.
The longtime NFL vet spent two seasons as the head coach at Valor Christian High in the Denver suburbs before taking the UNC job. He brings with him a reputation of a smart, high football IQ mentor with strong motivational ability and a strong football pedigree. Northern Colorado has already equaled their 2018 and 2019 win totals through four games of the McCaffrey era.
“Coach McCaffrey brings a wealth of experience from his playing days, his coaching days at Valor Christian,” Vigen said. “They have completely remade that roster. It’s only a matter of time before he gets that program going.”
WHAT TO WATCH – The Offense
Dylan McCaffrey, quarterback, 6-5, 220 pounds, senior
The third-oldest McCaffrey brother played for Rod Sherman at Valor CHristian, where he helped quarterback the prestigious private school to CHSAA Class 5A state championship in all four seasons, with state titles in 2013, 2015 and 2016.
He threw for nearly 8,000 yards and 80 touchdowns while rushing for nearly 1,800 yards and scored 23 touchdowns on the ground during his sophomore, junior and senior years. He was the 2016 Colorado Gatorade Football Player of the Year. That helped earn him a four-star rating and a position as the 117th player nationally in the recruiting rankings, including the No. 6 overall QB rating.
“He’s talented and we didn’t have a shot to recruit him at Wyoming but with Laramie’s proximity to Denver, I was very familiar with Dylan. Going to Michigan, that was warranted by his high school career. I know Michigan has played a bunch of guys at quarterback the last several years but he was on the field a bunch.
That earned McCaffrey invites to the U.S. Army All-American Game and the inaugural Polynesian Bowl. He was also a 2016 Elite 11 Finalist.
“I think he’s a guy who has football in his blood and has athleticism in his bloodlines,” Vigen said. “His dad, his mom, his brothers, I think he had a grandfather who was an Olympic champion or Olympian at least. There’s a lot to be said for him growing up around sports and competition. Being coached by his dad and now being coached by his dad and his older brother, what a unique situation.”
Gene Sledge Jr., running back, 6-2, 235, freshman
The burly, intimidating looking rookie is Northern Colorado’s leading rusher with 206 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He comes to UNC after earning four letters and multiple team offensive MVP wards at Vista Peak High in Huntsville, Alabama.
He did not play against Colorado but rushed for 84 yards and a score in his first career start in a 45-13 win over Houston Baptist. The following week, he rushed for 99 yards in a 17-10 loss to Lamar. NAU held Sledge to 23 yards on 18 carries.
Kassidy Woods, wide receiver, 6-4, 220, sophomore
The former Washington State transfer carried the Bears offensively last week. He hauled in a career-high 11 receptions for a career-best 123 yards in UNC’s OT win over NAU.
That moves his totals for 2021 to 20 catches for 255 yards and a touchdown. The
The four-star recruit from from Addison, Texas was once a top 65 prospect in the entire Lone Star State and the 82nd rated receiver in the nation coming out of high school.
Woods’ father, John Woods Jr., was a guard for two seasons at Missouri, helping guide the Tigers to the 1999 NCAA Tournament as senior guard. Kassady’s older brother, Kahlee Woods, played football at Texas Tech.
WHAT TO WATCH – Defense
David Hoage, defensive eline, 6-3, 250, sophomore
Collins Jr. was an above average recruiter and often landed top tier talent. Hoage was one of his last outstanding gifts to UNC.
Hoage started as a freshman in 2019 for two games and played in 12, finishing his rookie year with 19 tackles and a sack.
This season, the Denver product is off to an outstanding start. He has five sacks and 10 tackles for loss, each among the best totals among Big Sky Conference defenders after the season’s first month. He had three sacks and four tackles for loss against Houston Baptist and added two more tackles for loss against NAU last week.
Jace Bobo, linebacker, 6-1, 215, junior
The Houston, Texas native is the leading tackles for the Bears and one of the leading tacklers in the country.
He finished fifth on Northern Colorado’s defense in 2019 with 54 tackles. This season, Bobo already has 47 stops including 25 solos stops and two tackles for loss.
He rolled up 14 tackles, including 11 solos and a tackle for loss in UNC’s 35-7 loss at Colorado. He also had double-digit tackles against Houston Baptist (10) and Northern Arizona (14) as well.
“Northern Colorado runs a 3-3 stack that we probably won’t see again this year,” Vigen said. “It’s a big of an anomaly from a defensive perspective.
“It’s a defensive system that’s come along the last couple of years. It started Texas A&M and now Iowa State runs it. We saw it at Wyoming both with Tulsa and Texas State. It’s becoming more and more a defense that can slow down the pass.”
Montana State and Northern Colorado kick at 1:05 p.m. on Saturday from Bobcat Stadium.
